You and Me, Us
by athenalikespi
Summary: The war has ended. Jason realizes that the beginning of his and Piper's relationship is a fake. They start over. Join Jason and Piper on their endeavor through the journey of life. Preferably without monsters.
1. Over Again

Piper

_The wind howled fiercely, stirring up leaves in a miniature tornado around Jason. The hurricane could only have been conjured by him, for he tended to lose control of his powers when his emotions were running high. He stood in front of a pit, dark, but not nearly dark enough to be Tartarus. Then the whispers began. I couldn't make out what they were saying, but he must have been able to. The strong expression on his face melted into one of pain. He doubled over as if he was punched and collapsed to the ground. The winds subsided for a moment and built up again. "No, please, no!" he cried, looking absolutely broken._

* * *

And then I woke up. "Gods, Jason," I whispered. I climbed down the ladder of my bunk in the Aphrodite cabin and tiptoed to the door so I wouldn't wake anyone up. I ran to the Zeus cabin as soon as I was out the door and only realized I was barefoot when I got there.

I knocked on the door urgently. "Open up, open up," I muttered impatiently, and knocked again. He opened the door, half asleep.

Jason opened the door bare-chested in sweats that hung loosely on his hips. "Who-" I tackled him with a hug. "Pipes?" he questioned, holding me tight. "What are you doing here?"

"I had a nightmare. There was a pit in front of you and I think," I hesitated. "I think you were dying."

"Hey," he tilted my chin up so that I was looking at him. He used his thumbs to wipe my tears away. That was when I realized I was crying. "Nothing is going to happen to me. The war is over. We're safe now. Well, safer than before, at least." I nodded. He bent down and placed a sweet kiss on my lips. "Stay here tonight...if you want to, I mean," he mumbled into my hair.

Jason had changed after the war. A lot. Maybe that was because the weight of the world wasn't on his shoulders anymore. The old Jason wouldn't break the rules and let me sleep in the same bed as him. He had grown up as a role model, someone everyone looked up to. He would never compromise that.

Sure, Jason was still a leader. He wasn't exactly ruining his reputation. He became a lot more carefree after the war, though. I sighed.

"Yeah. Okay," I replied. He led me to a bed in the very back of the cabin, outside the huge statue of Zeus' line of sight. We stopped at the foot of the bed. He sighed and pressed his forehead to mine.

He ran a finger down my spine, making me shiver against him. "Jason?"

"Piper," He began. I looked up at him expectantly. "Never mind." I suddenly felt nervous as he climbed in under the covers and held out his arms in anticipation of my body fitting in between them. I took a deep breath and lay down next to him. He wrapped his arms around me protectively as I traced the planes of his perfectly muscled chest. "Sleep," he whispered.

"I can't," I said, burying my face in his shoulder. He kissed my forehead. He pulled the blanket tighter around us and held me until sleep found me.

* * *

Jason

I didn't like our relationship. It wasn't Piper. Absolutely not. I loved Piper, but our relationship didn't feel right. I appeared on a bus from nowhere and she had false memories of my being her boyfriend. I don't know what it was that she remembered about me, but I didn't want her to like me based on something that never happened. I wanted to start over. We knew each other pretty well through everything we had been through together, but I wanted a normal teenage relationship.

I wanted to get to know the deeper parts of Piper. Like earlier tonight, for instance. I didn't know she cared about me that much. I hadn't seen her cry like that before.

Those were the thoughts running through my head as I watched Piper sleep. She was here, in my bed, seeking refuge from the horrors that plagued her.

She looked beautiful in her sleep, not that she wasn't beautiful when she was awake. When she was asleep, she looked younger and peaceful.

I just stared at her for a while. Her breathing was adorable. She breathed in through her nose and let out a little puff through her mouth. I smiled and brushed her hair out of her face. Her eyelids fluttered open. "What time is it?" she asked.

"Six in the morning," I told her.

"Oh. Good morning," she said, before closing her eyes again and burying her face in my shoulder.

"Piper," I said. She groaned in to my shoulder. "Piper," I said again.

"What?" she mumbled.

"Will you go out with me?" She rolled onto her back.

"What? Aren't we technically dating already?"

"I think we, um, need to start over." She looked hurt. "Pipes, it's not you. I didn't get to experience the beginning of our relationship. Your memories are just Mist."

"Oh," she relaxed slightly, but I could still see that she was uneasy.

"Pipes," I said, taking her hand in mine. "I'm not doing this completely for my satisfaction. I just don't want to hurt you."

"Okay," she said again, the hurt in her eyes mostly gone now.

"So will you go out with me?" I asked her again.

"Yes, I will go out with you." She smiled. "Where?"

"Meet me at the beach after breakfast." She kissed my cheek and left.


	2. Snow White

Piper

I walked up to the beach after breakfast, intrigued by his sudden revelation about the uncertainties of our relationship. He was right about it, though. Our beginning wasn't right at all.

I finally spotted Jason; he was standing at the edge of the water, the waves lapping up against his feet. I walked up next to him. "Hi, Sparky," I whispered.

"Hey," he said. I looked at him curiously. He usually didn't come to the beach. "What?" he asked.

"This isn't really where you 'hang'," I replied. He smirked and looked at something behind me.

I heard a shout. "Hey, Grace! Don't screw up my car!" I turned around. It was Percy, walking toward us with a set of car keys in his hand. When he got closer, he said, "The car is new and it better stay that way."

"Thanks," Jason said, taking the keys from him.

"And don't get pulled over and don't do anything weird in the back."

"Dude," Jason said, turning pink. "I get it."

"Good. And have fun." He smiled and walked away. The car was a silver Ford F-150 Tremor. It wasn't really a romantic outing type of car, but we both were adventurous, so it didn't matter.

Jason took my hand in his and looked at me for a moment, his icy blue eyes probing my soul for any uncertainties. "Piper, are you okay?"

"Yeah," I said softly. He smiled at me as we made our way to the truck. He helped me into the passenger side before climbing into the driver's side. "Where are we going?"

"You'll see." He drove out of camp in silence; neither of us spoke a word until we made it onto the highway.

"Jason?"

"What's your favorite color?"

"Really, Pipes?"

"I seriously don't know what your favorite color is," I replied.

"Blue," he said, looking at me with eyes the same color.

"Like the sky?" I asked him.

"No," he said. "The type of blue your eyes keep changing back to." He smiled as I blushed. "What's yours?"

"Orchid."

"That's a nice color."

We finally pulled up in the parking lot of a nature reserve. "We're hiking?" I asked.

"Something like that."

"Which trail?"

"We're not using a trail."

I looked at him, puzzled. Jason got out of the truck and helped me out. He took my hand. "Let's have an adventure, shall we?"

* * *

Jason

I had scouted out this area earlier with Percy, when he wanted somewhere interesting to go with Annabeth. We had uncovered a meadow in our uncharted trek through the forest. The meadow was pleasant; it was like something out of Snow White, with birds and bunnies and deer and a pond. It had reminded me of Piper, which is why I decided to bring her here.

We slowly made our way through the forest, helping each other over fallen branches and roots sticking out of the ground. Neither of us said anything. We didn't have to. I was happy enough basking in her company, knowing that I hadn't made a mistake. The trees began to thin out soon enough, and Piper ran ahead of me, searching for the source of the sudden brightness. She stopped with a gasp at the edge of the tree line, surprised by the sudden change in scenery. A rabbit hopped over to Piper and rubbed her leg. Piper looked down at it and smiled. She bent down and scratched it behind its ears. It closed its eyes and nuzzled her hand. "You like that, don't you?" She picked it up and took a tentative step onto the grass. She actually looked happy for once. Before, it was all brave face, I'm okay kind of happy face. Right now, she was happy and she didn't have to worry about anything. I wanted to preserve this moment, I wanted her to feel like this forever, I wanted to be the reason for the smile on her face.

A fawn walked toward Piper, looking at her curiously before sniffing her hand. Piper rubbed its neck. She had that motherly aura to her, something I hadn't noticed before. That's when I decided that I wanted to spend the rest of my life with her. I was only sixteen, but we had gone through more together than most married couples. I walked up behind her silently and wrapped my arms around her. The rabbit jumped out of her arms and hopped a few away with the deer behind it, as if they were giving us space. Piper turned in my arms and rested her head on my shoulder and her hands on my waist. "Thank you," she muttered into my chest.

"Anything for you, Pipes," I said to her softly. She pulled away from me and took my hand. We walked farther into the meadow. She spotted the pond and ran ahead of me once more, pulling of her shoes and socks when she got to the edge of the clear water. She stepped into the water slowly. When I got closer, she cupped some water in her hand and pushed it in my direction, splashing me. I pushed some water in her direction in retaliation, getting her wet as well. After a few minutes of sissy water fighting, Piper jumped in the water, drenching me from head to toe.

"That's it. You asked for it, Pipes," I said, and tackled her into the pond.

* * *

Piper

We were sitting against the trunk of the tree in the middle of the meadow, bone-dry thanks to Jason's incredibly strong gust of wind after our impromptu water battle. I rested my head on his shoulder and he laced his fingers with mine, tracing circles on my palm with his thumb. I shivered, and it wasn't because of the cold.

He took his hand out of mine and put his arm around my shoulders, pulling me onto his lap. I nestled into his embrace. "Piper?"

"Mmm?" I mumbled, closing my eyes.

"I think I love you."

"You think? Gods, how I wish I could tell what you were thinking all the time," I replied. He chuckled.

"I think I love you," he reiterated. "I'm serious." I sat up straight, overcome by a moment of bravery.

"Sparky," I said, kissing his nose. "I think." I kissed his chin. "I." I kissed his jaw. "Love you, too." My fingers traced the stubble on his jaw. His fingers knotted into my hair and he pulled my face to his once more.

"You think?" he asked against my lips, teasing me.

I kissed him, hard. "I'm sure."


End file.
